Mother of Mercy's final year: Why she stayed; why she left

A group of about 100 people held a prayer vigil at Mother of Mercy High School in Westwood. They mourned a loss, as the 100-plus year old school is set to close in 2018-19 to merge with McAuley High School in College Hill.
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Students fill a stairway during a class change at Seton High School in the Price Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati on Monday, Sept. 11, 2017. Seton has seen a spike in enrollment following the announcement of the merger of nearby all-girls Catholic schools McAuley and Mercy.(Photo: Sam Greene/The Enquirer)Buy Photo

The leadership team at Seton High School noted the time and reason for the call. It was a parent from Mother of Mercy High School, Seton’s rival down the road, calling to ask about the possibility of a transfer.

It was the first of 129 such phone calls that day, the same day the Sisters of Mercy announced a merger between their two Cincinnati all-girls schools, Mother of Mercy in Westwood and McAuley High School in College Hill.

Higher enrollment is great, said Seton President Kathy Allen Ciarla, but that day was awful. As Ciarla called her students into an assembly to tell them what was happening to their neighbors, she couldn’t help but think: What if it had been Seton instead?

“I couldn’t get the words out. I choked up,” she said. “We love to beat 'em. We hate to lose to 'em. But we feel for them.”

The Sisters of Mercy announced the merger March 2, and there has been a definite emotional cost. The Mother of Mercy community, which is losing its historic building, has borne the brunt.

But there is another, more quantifiable cost: students. This year, 41 would-have-been Mother of Mercy students went to Seton instead, 21 freshmen and 20 upper-class members. In all – some to Seton, some to McAuley, where they would have ended up anyway, and some to other schools – Mother of Mercy Principal Dave Mueller estimates his school lost about 65 girls.

Given the exodus Mueller imagines might have happened, he considers that a win.

“We had planned to be at about 465-ish for this year, and as it turned out, we’re a little over 400,” he said. “Many, many students and their families decided to stick with us.”

Why she left

Rumors started flying the night before. Kylee Fitzgerald and her friends were texting each other, trying to figure out what was happening. They’d heard the Sisters were in town and were going to shut down their school. They didn’t believe it.

The next morning, though, it was clear. As soon as Fitzgerald walked into the gym, she knew.

“I was devastated,” she said. “Everyone just broke out crying.”

It taught Fitzgerald, 16, a lesson: Don’t take anything for granted.

And it made her angry. She didn’t like how the news was announced with no warning, after the decision was already finalized. Fitzgerald was a Mercy girl, through and through. It ran in her family, and it was always her plan. But that morning, she sent a text to her mom: I want to shadow at Seton.

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Kylee Fitzgerald poses at Seton High School in the Price Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati on Monday, Sept. 11, 2017. Fitzgerald transferred to Seton after her old school, Mother of Mercy, announced a merger.(Photo: Sam Greene/The Enquirer)

Ciarla, Seton’s president, stresses that her staff did not recruit Mercy students. Seton held a special shadow day for potential transfers, but that was only because a special day was the only way to accommodate all the requests the school was getting.

Even before the merger – and contradictory to nationwide trends – Seton was growing. The freshman class went from 99 three years ago to 133 last year. This year, including the 21 Mercy freshman transfers, it’s 152.

Now, with Mercy no longer an option, Ciarla expects those numbers to continue to rise.

“We’re already getting the calls,” she said.

Why she stayed

When Adrienne Robers set foot in Mother of Mercy, she knew. This was the school for her. She visited several others, but her choice was clear: She was a Mercy girl.

Then, on a Thursday morning in her eighth-grade art class, Adrienne learned the school she had fallen in love with was going to disappear. She wasn’t sure what to think. She was sad, but she had toured and liked McAuley as well, so maybe it would be OK?

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Adrienne Robers, a freshman, decided to stay at Mother of Mercy school this year.(Photo: Jennie Key/The Enquirer)

Her mom, though, was furious. To Kerri Robers, it felt like a dirty trick to announce the merger after students and parents had already gone through the selection process and paid deposits. It’s not about the money, Kerri Robers said. It’s about the principle.

The family thought about switching schools, and they looked around. But ultimately, they left it up to Adrienne, who decided to stay at Mercy. Next year, she’ll move to the new Mercy McAuley school.

Kerri Robers is still upset about the lack of details she has on the new school. There’s a lack of communication, she said, and that has led to a lack of trust between parents and school leaders. But Adrienne is really happy at Mother of Mercy, and that makes it all easier to stomach.

Ending strong

At Mercy and McAuley, none of the teachers know if they'll have a job at this point next year. Mueller, the Mercy principal, doesn't know himself. But despite all that, he said, it's been a remarkably positive year.

Two of about 45 teachers left after the merger announcement, Mueller said, but the rest stayed.

"I've told them time and again, there's a kind of quiet heroism here," Mueller said. “We have our moments when people realize, ‘Yeah, this is the last time we’ll do this or the last time we’ll do that.' (But) I have been so impressed by the spirit and resilience of the students.”

The new Mercy McAuley school has a principal and a president in place. Tuition will be $11,275, the same as it is this year for both schools. The colors, just announced this month, are orange, white and gray. The mascot is a wolf.

As more details emerge and Day 1 gets closer, students are getting more excited, Mueller said. And as that happens, some of the anger and hurt from the initial announcement are giving way to anticipation for what's to come.

Kerri Robers is hoping and praying it all works out – that the new school really is the all-girls powerhouse leaders are pitching.

“But right now, that’s all we have is hope,” she said. “It would be nice to have some clarity in all this.”